Here’s some of what readers said:

“A fabulous post. Profound. And upon reading it I felt a renewed sense of calmness regarding my current challenges – which when put into perspective are small.” — Morton Patterson

“Thank you Alexis. I am not sure if I should weep or jump for joy. Identifying our underlying feelings and matching them with the Truth about us and about life has set a tone for great freedom in the now.” — Angela Price

“Okay – so I think this is my favorite post in this whole series.. .perhaps because of the timing being exactly right for when I needed to be reminded of this.” — Teresa Romain

Read it yourself here.  And please do the exercises and leave a comment.

Marie Forleo sure does have the goods when it comes to building businesses online.  And she’s breaking it all down for you in her 8 week RHH B-School Course.  You know all about the rave reviews, the huge epiphanies and the massive forward action.

But, I think you know that no matter how great the course is, there’s something else you are going to need to put it all into action — nope, not a whole lot more stuff about list-building or social media or branding — you’re gonna need (and want) personal, one-on-one support to get you into action.

For some of us gals (myself included), no matter how ahhhhmazing an online course is, without the one-on-one, I’m stuck.

Well, lady, let this be your enticement to dive over the edge and say yes to yourself – because when you enter your name and email address here and then use my link to join Marie’s program, I’m giving you a bonus package that is so hot I had to keep it private. And there’s only ten of em’ available because, yes, it includes private time with me — and I’m off the market otherwise.

Enter Your Name and Best Email For All the Delicious Deets:

;

 PS Goddess — wondering why I’m asking for your name and email? It’s because I’m in this for the relationship. Whether you join Marie’s B-School or not, I’m interested in you and your evolution so after you send me your name and email, I’m gonna email you and I want you to hit reply and tell me about yourself and where you are on the journey.  I may just hit you back with a nugget that will shift you into fast action.

Commitment

Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans, that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves, too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. 

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

 “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

 Quotation from The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, by W. H. Murray, published by J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1951

There is so much truth here.  Every single time I have deeply committed to something, everything I need has shown up — often from the most unexpected places.

What can you commit to today that will change the course of your life?  Make it big and juicy. Please, we all need your commitment to fuel the providence that will show up to support you when you do.

Related articles

• On Beginning (jennifermerck.net)
• no mistakes (taniamadams.com)

Screw the false marketing facade.  I want you to really know.

I also believe the oft-quoted saying “we are only as sick as our secrets.”

It’s hiding that hurts.  Truth-telling, even when it’s super scary to let you see all of who I am, is an awesome path to sovereignty.  At least that’s what my heart tells me.  My left-brain mind often says I’m an idiot for letting it all hang out, but I’m learning to listen more to my heart these days because it sure feels a lot better when I do.

Anyway …

Just the other day, I posted publicly on Facebook and Twitter about a screw up by a team member that resulted in 30 minutes of a coaching call not being recorded.  I asked for guidance re how to handle it.

And I got GREAT ADVICE.  Outside the box advice. You can see some of it here in the left column.  (You can see some of the really nice things people have also said about me on Twitter in the right column – I keep those prominently in my Tweetdeck so I can look at them when I’m having a crappy day and remind myself why I’m doing the work I do.)

Other than “make team member face opposite direction to rest of team with dunce hat” (got a great laugh from that), my favorite response was “apologise to the team member.”  Now THAT got me thinking.

If I wasn’t living out loud and airing my “dirty laundry” publicly, I might not have gotten that mind expanding possibility.

I did get some pushback both on Twitter and Facebook from people who thought I should not have posted about this publicly.  That doing so was hurtful to my team member and a sign of poor leadership on my part.

I get that perspective.  We’ll have to agree to disagree.  I didn’t post my team member’s name, though I do wonder what my responsibility is when it comes to naming the names of people who have not done good work for me and I see being hired by others in my community. (That will have to be the topic for another blog post, I think.)

I didn’t see it as public shaming or humiliation.  I still don’t.  Do you?

And, the folks who work for and with me know, I live my life publicly.  If you don’t want me to write about you, make that exceedingly clear and I won’t.  But, if you don’t say anything, me writing about you is fair game.

What do you think?  Am I a horrible, terrible, no good, shaming and humiliating leader because I wrote publicly about this team member’s screw up?  Or do you like the way I publicly share the details of my life and business? I’d love to know.

In the meantime, if you want even more behind the scenes, you can get it here.  I’m sharing the details of the rebrand, rebuild, and rebirth of my businesses and online systems and letting you see how and why we are doing it the way we are.  Rather than just showing up one day with a brand new look online, brand new products and programs — I want you to watch the evolution. Why? Because I know you can learn so much more by seeing and participating than by simply hearing me tell you what to do or how to do it.

Don’t forget to let me know what you think about this issue of letting it all hang out online.  In the comments below. Thanks.

I have been hiding.  There’s simply too much to say and I don’t have time write my book yet.  I have systems to rebuild, teams to hire, financial stuff to work out, websites to recreate …

And I let all of that stop me from living my true purpose, my gift, my reason for being here.

Which is what again?

Oh right, to shine the light.  To wake up and wake you up with me.  To be a model for truth, transparency and living through the fear.  To make the evolutionary leap in consciousness from Stage 6 to Stage 7 and be a catalyst for others to do the same.

But, I can’t do or be any of that if I’m hiding behind stuff to do, systems to build and all the rest of it.

So here I am.

I read a post tonight by Ben Nemtin of the Buried Life (if you haven’t heard of him yet, you will, soon – probably now when you click this link) and while it is almost definitely inspirational for most people, I felt sad.

I felt sad because it reinforced what I’ve known for some time; I’ve let my really big dreams slip away.

At 30, revolutionizing an industry (the legal industry), writing a bestseller, getting a TV show, building a million dollar business … and doing it all while raising my kids seemed not only possible, but impossible not to try.

Today, 8 years later, I’m tired.  And I can see now that I went about it all wrong.

Wrong in the sense that it was unsustainable.  I willed my way through it all when I could have allowed a whole lot more.  I tried to do way too much myself instead of relying on the right people for support.

When I did rely on others, I relied on whoever was close by (usually people who really wanted to please me, but simply did not have the training, skills, or clarity of outcome from me to actually do that) and then I got pissed and full of distrust when they couldn’t and didn’t deliver only to watch them go on and do exactly what I believed they could do all along, only after they were no longer working with me.   This feels like a never-ending story of my life.

I put way too much money into the wrong things (coaches) and not nearly enough into the right things (hiring the right people to implement on my vision).

And now, what?

I almost let my dreams go.  I could feel myself slipping into resignation, a feeling of being beat down by the world and an energy of fuck it, I don’t want to be that image anymore anyway.  I just want to be me, a mom, a friend, a girlfriend.  I don’t really need all that.

But, it’s a lie.  That’s fear talking. Fear that I can’t do it. Fear that I’ll never be able to find the right people to harness my vision and execute on it strategically. Fear that I won’t be good enough to inspire people into action while they work for me instead of to “show me” what they can do after we separate.  Fear, fear, fear.

I do want to revolutionize an industry (or two), I do want to write another (or three) bestselling books that change the way we collectively think, feel and respond to heavily conditioned beliefs about credit/debt, conflict and earning money (three different books, all of which have titles and outlines already written), and I would like to be on television again.

Okay, there, I said it.  I wrote it down even.  And that’s the first step.

Now what?

Well, according to Ben, you talk about it, be persistent, be ballsy and help others.  Check, check, check, and check.  I’m talking about it here, nothing if not persistent and ballsy and my life is devoted to helping others. So, now it’s just a matter of time, right?

Well yes, and not quite.

My dreams got sidelined for a reason.  That reason is a key piece of my (and your) evolution.  My soul is not here to revolutionize an industry, write books or be on TV — it’s here to heal/wake up/evolve.  And my dreams will not/cannot be realized until that happens.

In fact, it’s my belief that we are each given our unique dreams so that we will be taken on the path that leads to our deepest healing.  And the more we let go of the resistance to what we really want, dig deep to discover what that is and go for it in a big way, the more opportunity we will have to heal that which stands in our way.

For me that requires a few major things:

1. Stay open, transparent and real.

The Whole Truth Show was my weekly outlet for letting you fully in to see my internal growth process.  We decided to reallocate those 2-3 hours per week to focus on the rebrand, rebuild and rebirth of the businesses and that feels like the right decision.

While the backstage pass gives you a peek into the external process and All-Access Membership takes you all the way inside, it’s not really focused on what’s going on for me internally through it all.

I need to share that more here.

By the way, this kind of access to the inside/behind the scenes is a trend you’ll see a lot more of because I believe it’s part of our evolution and it’s necessary for growth.

The people still hiding behind their shiny facades will find that they become much less credible over the next few years.  Vishen Lakhiani, founder of MindValley and now MindValley Insights, is opening the kimono already so that his vision can touch 500 million lives. Yes!

And I just stumbled across Nancy Marmolejo’s similar decision to publicly chronicle her decision to rebrand and the process around it, so there’s definitely something here.

2. Hire up and then let go.

It’s so difficult for me to talk about where I have fallen down in this area, but I know it’s common so I will try not to hold back.  Another nugget from Vishen, which you can read in full on the MindValley Insights Facebook page. He was talking to Richard Branson and asked him the one secret to his success. Richard replied:

“It’s all about finding and hiring people smarter than you. Getting them to join your business. And giving them good work. Then getting out of their way. And trusting them. You have to get out of the way so YOU can focus on the bigger vision. That’s important. And here’s the main thing….you must make them see their work as a MISSION.”

I did this once.  Kind of.  I’m not sure I ever got the trusting part down completely.  And then I lost sight of the mission myself. I got caught up in the money and that was the end of that.

I vow to do it differently and I have been empowering Martha, Craig and Kyra (my closest business partners) to call me out when they see me falling back into my old patterns (because I will).

3. Stop manifesting and start generating.

I always considered myself a master manifestor.  And, I have been without a doubt.  But, it turns out that all that pushing through, making things happen and intensity of manifestation may not actually be my natural design.  I got a call out of the blue recently from a Facebook friend who told me he had the answers to my perpetual overwhelm and I should Skype him.  I did and he pointed out to me that my Human Design is actually that of a generator, not a manifestor.

In the past, my logical left brain would have dismissed this guy’s comments immediately.  My ego is sure I am a master manifestor and that’s that.  But, I know it’s not.

Craig has been guiding me for some time to shift how I’m doing things.  My higher self has been telling me quite clearly that if I don’t, I will get sick.  And then this man (Christopher Power) calls me out of the blue and basically tells me the same thing.

And when I heard it coming from this new voice, I understood it a whole lot more.  I have to stop making things happen and instead relax and wait to respond to what is already happening.

This is extremely challenging for me because I have been deeply conditioned to believe that if I do not take care of myself nobody else will.  And that’s the healing my soul is crying out for — to learn to trust, to discover the truth that it’s not really all up to me, to let go and as my friend Annie (Eben Pagan’s wife) taught me at Burning Man, repose.

So that’s how I am getting back in the saddle again.  I’m dreaming the dream, writing it down, telling you all about it, hiring the right people to support it and then letting go of the attachment to how or what happens.

Repose, repose, repose.

Got a story of a dream let go and resurrected?  If so, I’d love to hear it. After all, it is resurrection weekend, eh? Share your story in the comments please.

How could I promote my businesses if I was unwilling to do traditional media anymore? Could I still have a company serving lawyers and be fully my eccentric, unusual, authentic self?

I wasn’t sure.  The team I had back then was sure I couldn’t.  Over and over again, I heard:

“Alexis, you can’t do that. Alexis, you can’t say that. You can’t write that.
You can’t wear that. You can’t be that.
You’ll hurt the business.”

My inner teenager said “Fuck that. If that’s the case, I don’t want the business.”  She set out to sabotage everything I had built.  And, honestly, she almost succeeded.

But Spirit had bigger plans.

I just had to face everything I was most afraid of, let go of everything I was attached to and get out of the way to allow those plans to happen.

Now, they are.

Through it all, I’ve woken up to what’s most important and discovered that I CAN be fully me — a bad-ass, driven, focused lawyer type AND a soft, feminine, community-focused, heart-centered, spiritually-minded evolutionary.

I love business and systems and money and marketing and community and trading/bartering and giving and dancing.

So I’m embracing all of it and at the same time focusing my energy very narrowly.  Spending time with my family, cleaning up broken systems, and rebuilding everything from the ground up with a solid foundation of all of who and what I am.

It feels good.  I have less money today than I have since my salad days of law school, no credit and tons of debt, but I’m less afraid than I have ever been.

And in many ways having less resources available to me is helpful because it requires me to make choices on what I say yes to, what I say no to, and to focus, focus focus.

If you’d like to watch my process of rebuilding over the next few months, get on my Eyes Wide Open email list. I won’t be posting here, but I am sending regular letters to my subscribers that lets you in on the behind the scenes of my process.

You can do that in a few different ways:

1. opt-in and get a backstage pass to our business rebrand, rebuild and rebirth process plus you’ll get my period letters letting you in on my internal process as well.

2. go to the top of this page and request the 4 free gifts OR

3. go here and get access to the 4 free gifts (which will be going away sooner rather than later, so take action now)

See ya on the inside!

A little more than two years ago, right when I was about to pop in the mass media (I was getting called to commentate on television at least weekly), I moved to Colorado and 100% stopped appearing on television because I had an awakening — I was not contributing to the world in the way I wanted to with the TV I was doing.

It was an appearance on Nancy Grace to gossip about Tiger Woods’ infidelity that really woke me up. As I sat there on the sound stage, I saw how I was wasting my life for the ego satisfaction of seeing myself on television.

In that moment, I made a promise to myself — even though there was little more I loved than being on television, I would not do it again until I could do transformational television.

Transformational TV … I believe it more than just about anything else, has the power to truly change the world.  Through entertainment, and specifically television, we can touch the lives of so many who are on the brink of awakening.

I look forward to exploring here with you — the nature of transformational entertainment, the leaders in the field of transformational entertainment, and sharing some examples that I came across at the GATE Conference.

In the meantime, here’s a video I made from the airport yesterday on my way back from the Conference. {For some reason the sound and video are off, so perhaps just listen instead of watch.}

Social media has changed the world forever. In just 140 characters or an update to your Facebook status, you have the potential to connect with a complete stranger in the same town or across the globe. In an instant, Friendships are being formed. Business is taking place. People are connecting. And the world will never be the same.

But it isn’t that easy…

Many people are standing on the sidelines of social media, unsure of how to jump into the conversation and contribute their thoughts. There is uncertainty about how one can form bonds with people they have never met “face to face.”

Are you one of many asking the question, “how?”

That is why we are here and you can know one thing for sure… You are in the right place! We have teamed up with Ricki Lake, one of the most engaged celebrities on social media, to share 5 tips for connecting with people in an instant on social media.

Watch this video to hear Ricki Lake’s #1 Tip for Connecting on Social Media

2. Be Respectful.

Leave judgment at the door and respect that other people on social media have beliefs and opinions that are their own. This is what makes them unique! Just as in offline relationships, if you want to make friends, you have to be one first. If you want people to respect you, start by being respectful of them.

3. Be Inspiring.

People like social media for many reasons. Many will share that they feel uplifted and empowered to live their best life by connecting with inspiring and positive people. If you want to make a lot of friends on social media, be inspiring. Be encouraging. Be a friend.

4. Be Generous.

The more you offer to help others in life, the more “likeable” you will be. When on social media you can help others by supporting their work. Take the time to mention people, and give them positive feedback. When you re-tweet or share the content of others they feel good and are more likely to appreciate and connect with you. Remember, “it’s not about me, it’s about we”.

5. Find a Fun Community!

Following a hashtag community on Twitter or joining a group or community on Facebook is a great way to connect with people who are like you and who are usually looking for the same type of connection you are looking for. Twitter and Facebook are the largest gathering of individuals on the planet. Communities are simply small groups within. Think of communities on social media as you would small break-out sessions at a very, very large conference. The name on the door is the community. Pick the door that tells you that you share common interests with those on the other side. Then, open the door, step inside and say hello via a tweet or a post on the Facebook wall. You will be surprised that many are waiting for… you!

If you are looking for a community that is based on friendship and connection, please join Ricki Lake and the Friends of Ricki for a very special announcement and a first hand look at social media connection on Ustream at http://ustream.tv/rickilake and using Twitter hashtag #FriendsofRicki at 5pm PST this Wednesday, February 1. We look forward to seeing you and connecting with you there!

I’m gonna be honest. I have made some of my best friends online and I’m curious, are you making connections on social media? Feel free to post your social media links in the comments so I can follow you and we can connect on Twitter or Facebook because these days I spend a whole lot more of my time there than I do here.

I’ve been sitting with that and doing the work necessary internally to not let it deter me from continuing to write about what feels so true and important in my heart and soul, even if it is misunderstood by many.

I probably would have unsubscribed too if one of the bloggers I read for guidance about life and business started talking about God and Jesus.

And that’s where the confusion exists.

Christ Consciousness isn’t about Jesus. It’s about you. And me. And the way we relate. And that impacts every part of your life, from your business, to your relationships, to your financial situation, to your ultimate happiness.

When I am operating from the Christ Consciousness, I give more. I forgive more. I let in more love, connection, harmony, possibility and abundance.

And guess what? All of that translates into a better life. Period.

My business hit a million bucks in revenue for the first time when I decided to get beyond the anger at my husband (despite so many people around me telling me I was nuts to forgive), stop fighting to win and just agree to give him the alimony and child support he was asking for instead of withholding, negotiating and making myself small so he wouldn’t think I had much.

Every fiber in my being resisted. My ego said “no way” should I give him what he was asking for after all he had done. It said I should play small, withhold, protect what I had and convince him and his attorney that I didn’t have enough to pay him much.

Fortunately, Christ Consciousness stepped in. My higher self said forgive, give more than you think is possible, trust. That part of me that knows what’s true and real and good and beautiful said “ask him what he needs to feel safe and give him that, you can make enough.”

So I did.  It wasn’t easy, but I did it anyway because I knew it was really the only path to what I really wanted — harmony, peace, love, abundance, prosperity, connection.

At the time I agreed to hand over $4,000 each month, I really did not know where that money would come from. But I said yes anyway and I was rewarded.

That year my business hit a million bucks in revenue and I did have enough. I want to be clear here; there was no indication my business would hit a million dollars a year when I said yes.  It only came after my yes.

Today, my ex and I co-parent our kids. We live mostly in harmony and co-operation.  In fact, as I write this he is here helping our kids clean their room and doing laundry.  Tonight we will have dinner as a family and play a game afterward.

That never would have been possible had my higher self not showed up and rescued me from what was almost certain to be a descent into fear-based thinking, a win-lose paradigm and ultimately a business that probably would have remained mediocre or even failed as a result. Not to mention, my ex and I would have remained locked in a battle for apparently limited resources.

But it turned out, those resources were not limited at all.  When I dropped my limited thinking and action, my resources became abundant and full.

That is Christ Consciousness in action.

When we each tap into this Consciousness (which is equally available to all, no matter our religion, race, creed or financial status), there IS enough for all, there is more than enough for everyone on the planet, there is no lack of resources, there is plenty.

How would you be different today if you knew deep in the core of your soul that there is enough? What would you do differently?  Who would you give more to? Who would you forgive? How would you embody the Christ Consciousness in your own life?

For now though, I want to share with you an overriding message that keeps coming to me as we venture into this year that so many have been prophesying about.

The theories about 2012 range from the world coming to an end, to a new world power going into place that will overtake us all, global weather catastrophes, the second coming of Christ and much more.

I’d like to throw in my own prophecy, one that I think could help us all much more than any of the theories focused on anything outside of ourselves.

Bear with me because this might sound a little out there (especially coming from a Jewish girl who couldn’t say the word “God” without nearly gagging until about 6 years ago), but I urge you to hear it with your heart and not your mind.

The second coming of Christ is here, now.  We really are the ones.

No matter your religion or whether you believe in the existence of the physical being of Jesus the Christ at all (I was personally raised to believe that Jesus the person may not have even existed), Christ Consciousness lives within each of us, right now.

2012 is the year we will collectively wake up to this consciousness within ourselves, no longer feel the need to project it outward and instead begin living from this consciousness in our own lives.

Christ Consciousness has been described many ways, here are a few that help me to understand it more:

“Christ consciousness is the state of awareness of our true nature, our higher self, and our birthright as children of God. Christ consciousness is our living expression as a child of Spirit as we unfold our own divine life plan onto the earth plane: bringing heaven to earth. Living in the reality of our “christed” self is actually being fully alive and invested in who we truly are. In our “christed” self we live as inspiration for others to seek this for themselves so we can collectively move our planet forward into the divine plan for planetary transformation and glorification.” from the Center for Christ Consciouness

For you left brain intellectuals reading this, let’s examine this together.

You agree we have a higher self and a lower self, right? You can feel that within you, yes?  I know I can, even when I am totally up in my head.  And Christ Consciousness is simply the awareness of that higher self.

I believe that so many of us are working toward “being fully alive and invested in who we truly are.” This is the pursuit of purpose, meaning and fulfillment.

We put many things in our way — money, conflict, ego to name a few.

But, when you examine your true desires, do these words of aliveness, living who you truly are, and connection to to something greater than your small self resonate with what you really want above all?

Christ consciousness = alignment, atonement (at-one-ment), and a recognition that there is no more need for discord, disharmony, or separation.  We really are all in this together. And we can love each other through whatever comes our way.

I see people waking up to this truth all around me and as they do, their lives change, regardless of their circumstances.

My intention is to bring you examples of these awakenings throughout 2012.

In the meantime, I would feel absolutely fulfilled if you would share your own examples of Christ Consciousness, awakening, and coming into connection with your own higher self. How do you do it? How do you know you are connected?  Where do you see examples we can all connect to around you?

Writing about Christ Consciousness is seriously edgy for me.  As I mentioned earlier, it was not so long ago when saying the word God made me choke.  And yet, I know in the deepest place of my being that this consciousness is available to all of us right now and it will change the world.

It’s so easy to misunderstand, but I deeply trust this message and this truth, so I will take the risk of speaking in this language because I believe your heart, your spirit, your soul is ready to receive this message, even if our collective minds are not.

If this does resonate with you, please help me spread the word of this message of hope so we can rally around the good, the true and the beautiful.  It will take all of us.